Packing protectors of different types are already commonly used to protect fragile items, such as appliances, computer parts, etc., during their shipment. There is the bubble wrapping where the object to protect is surrounded by a plastic film filled with air bubbles. There are also the protective pads made from folded corrugated paperboard blanks. An example of such protective pads is given in U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,304.
Also known in the prior art, there are the packing protectors made from blocks of plastic foam such as polyurethane cut to the exact exterior and interior configuration to fit within a carton box and to receive the fragile item. As can be easily understood, a lot of material is wasted during the making of those protectors, which makes their manufacturing very expensive. A solution to this problem of material wasting has been to propose packing protectors formed from foldable foam material. Examples of such protectors are given in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,883,179; 5,024,328 and 5,160,473.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,883,179 discloses a packing member formed from an expanded plastic foam sheet. The packing member is formed by dividing the sheet into two legs by a V-shaped longitudinal groove. The surfaces of the foam sheet defining the V-shaped groove are coated with an adhesive to keep the packing member in shape once folded.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,888,179 and 5,024,328 in the name of Bontrager disclose a packaging frame formed from a blank including interior cuts and minimal cutouts. The blank is operably shifted to and form a single piece frame having an exterior quadrilateral to interfit with the interior of packing containers and having an interior perimeter to accommodate the reception of a part for shipment. Once removed from the container, the packing member disclosed by Bontrager goes back to its original unfolded state since there is nothing provided to keep the packing member in its folded shape.
Other examples of packing protector are given in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,938,360; 5,090,571; 5,207,327; 5,307,928; 5,348,157; and 5,515,976.
There is still presently a need for a packing protector which will be simple to use by itself without requiring any other material such as glue, which will be economical to manufacture and easy to ship to the customers.